Rear facing carseat

My baby is rear facing and I’m being told to forward face her she is 1. she has the extended car seat so she has lots of leg space and they say it’s safer to rear face. My friend has had they baby forward facing since baby was 7 months and they say it’s much better that way. I do plan to ask my pediatrician what she recommends. I want her to be safe while In the car. She seems happy rear facing and we are never in the car longer then 25 min.